The Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna sailed into the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tournament as they defeated the British pair of Andy Murray and Heather Watson 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals on Friday.
India started poorly with Bopanna serving waywardly, resulting in a break of service by the British pair in the very first game. While Murray and Mirza held their serve, Watson's serve was ferociously attacked and it resulted in a break of service as the Indians drew level at 2-2.
By now, Mirza was running the show as she attacked all serves being thrown her way and showed some wonderful doubles movement, coupling audacious lobs with razor sharp returns. A visibly-tired Murray was having trouble with low returns at the net and Mirza, the top ranked player in women's doubles, had no problem exploiting it.
With another break of Watson's serve, the Indians had an advantage for the first time in the set. Bopanna, the big man who had done a bit of wild swinging and hoicking till then, pulled three good serves together to give India the first set.
Murray, having been involved in a over two-hour long quarterfinal clash in the singles competition earlier in the day, was going through the motions even as Heather Watson upped her game in the second set.
The set started at an even keel, the first four games evenly split. Mirza, who had made a few errors in the initial part of the set, went after Murray's serve and made sure India were up a break at 3-2.
Soon enough, it was Bopanna's service which clicked as as India played it smart and closed out the match.
The Indian pair will take on the victors of the quarter-final match between United States' Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram of the United States and the Italian pair of Roberta Vinci and Fabio Fognini.
